A couple days ago, X/Twitter users noticed unlabeled ads showing up in their feeds. So we asked our followers to flag more examples and, wow, did you all deliver. We don't know if the missing label is intentional or a bug. But we do know the FTC is not a fan of unlabeled ads. “The lack of labeling misleads consumers and flies in the face of FTC’s guidelines on deceptively formatted ads," our director of policy and partnerships Sarah Kay Wiley told Mashable. "As advertisers grapple with just how brand unsafe Twitter has become, this is yet another potentially huge liability for every brand that advertises on Twitter.” Techcrunch also dug into the issue, finding even more unlabeled ads. They spoke to Jeffrey Chester, executive director at the Center for Digital Democracy, who called for the FTC to investigate. “The FTC should open up an investigation into X’s use of stealth ads, especially reviewing whether it is engaged in deceptive business tactics. It should require X to disgorge any data it or its ad partners have gathered from its users, in addition to imposing fines and other sanctions.” We're still collecting unlabeled ads as we move forward in urging the FTC to investigate, so please send any screenshots to [email protected], along with how you're viewing tweets (iOS/Android app or a web browser). |
